People who bought this also bought...

Napoleon: A Life

Andrew Roberts' Napoleon is the first one-volume biography to take advantage of the recent publication of Napoleon's thirty-three thousand letters, which radically transform our understanding of his character and motivation. At last we see him as he was: protean multitasker, decisive, surprisingly willing to forgive his enemies and his errant wife Josephine.

The French Revolution: 1789 - 1799

In 1789 a group of sober-minded, concerned citizens set in motion a series of events which were to end up leading to the deaths of thousands of perfectly innocent persons. How did this reasonable movement of level-headed civic leaders spin out of control? At a glance, the French Revolution appears a bewildering series of political factions sweeping in and out of power, massacre and counter-massacre, terror and guillotine, and one economic crisis following another.

Parallel Lives of the Noble Greeks and Romans

Plutarch (c. AD 46-AD 120) was born to a prominent family in the small Greek town of Chaeronea, about 20 miles east of Delphi in the region known as Boeotia. His best known work is the Parallel Lives, a series of biographies of famous Greeks and Romans, arranged in pairs to illuminate their common moral virtues and vices. The surviving lives contain 23 pairs, each with one Greek life and one Roman life as well as four unpaired single lives.

Europe Under the Old Regime: Power, Politics, and Diplomacy in the Eighteenth Century

Behind the glittering facade of 18th century European civilization lurked some of the most brutal and cynical power brokers ever to practice the art of diplomacy, and ironically it was their blueprint for conquest that the French Revolution was to utilize so well. Europe Under the Old Regime is actually the preface to Sorel's tremendous and magnificently elaborate work, Europe and the French Revolution.

1066: The Year That Changed Everything

With this exciting and historically rich six-lecture course, experience for yourself the drama of this dynamic year in medieval history, centered on the landmark Norman Conquest. Taking you from the shores of Scandinavia and France to the battlefields of the English countryside, these lectures will plunge you into a world of fierce Viking warriors, powerful noble families, politically charged marriages, tense succession crises, epic military invasions, and much more.

A History of England, Volume 3: William III to Waterloo: 1689-1815

In volume three of Cyril Robinson's famous history of England, we now enter a crucial phase in which political and economic power both change hands. Parliament now dominates the nation's political discourse, and, led by its brilliant Whig leader, Robert Walpole, this party maintains itself in power for a century. It is a stagnant century of corrupt politics and even more corrupt government magistrates and bureaucrats. But it is also the century that will usher in the greatest change humankind has ever seen.

Phil O. says:"Colorful, punchy, engaging; a bit jingoistic"

Publisher's Summary

From the death of Louis XIV in 1715 until the onset of the French Revolution in 1789, there occurred a profound evolution in the thinking of political philosophers, whose epoch is known as The Enlightenment. There were three men whose writings were to be most responsible for this intellectual whirlwind: Voltaire, Diderot, and Rousseau. And there were to be three rulers whose absorption of this new thinking actually resulted in an attempt to put many of those ideas into practice: Frederick the Great of Prussia, Joseph II of Austria, and Catherine the Great of Russia. Naturally, there were other thinkers, collectively known as the "Philosophes". And there were other, lesser rulers who would also reflect this new intellectual and spiritual glory.

But where did it come from? How, in the middle of one of the most corrupt centuries of all time, could a small group of monarchs suddenly become infatuated with the thinking of an even smaller group of eccentric intellectuals? On the face of it, it seems highly improbable. At the beginning of the 18th century, kings ruled by the divine right of God Almighty, and were answerable only to God. Near the end of the same century, they still ruled by the grace of God...but now they were answerable to the people they ruled. This was the era of the Great Awakening of the common man. The consequences were to be momentous for the world. For it was from the works of the Philosophes that the French Revolution would germinate, and it was from the French Revolution that the ultimate Enlightened Despot would emerge...Napoleon Bonaparte.

Enlightened Despots is a bit of an oxymoron but compared with the monarchs that ruled before they were much more of the time and had a humanity about them that previous monarchs and leaders had not. They were still however despotic leaders.

What comes out is that they tried and tried hard - they read the relevant texts by Voltaire etc and were true in their belief of a fair go but they were also determined to hold onto their inherited throwns and empires come what may.

The clashes were monumental and very interesting when broken down. It is worth listening to. The world was a better place after their reigns - but they could have been even better but holding on to what they knew meant that they didn't go that step too far. How different European history could have been.

The subject is fascinating and worth exploring. The modern world is a continuing echo of the Enlightenment, and the despotic leaders profiled in this book are of no small importance to any student of history. That said, the writing style is overwrought and too clever by half. The narrator's performance is a bizarre attempt at goofball entertainment, with a cheeseball "voice of God" reverb used in place of quotes. The overall effect is embarrassing.

Its a great listen, really kept my interest all the way through, and it was great to get a light approach to what might have been a 'heavy' subject. Its informative on history and philosophy. The narrator might sound a bit serious, but is clear and lilting.

0 of 0 people found this review helpful

Amazon Customer

Sussex, UK

7/9/08

Overall

"Interesting I suppose"

The content of this book was very interesting, but unfortunately the way it was read just sent me to sleep so I never got the full benefits of the facts.

0 of 1 people found this review helpful

Report Inappropriate Content

If you find this review inappropriate and think it should be removed from our site, let us know. This report will be reviewed by Audible and we will take appropriate action.